TSPDT

Key Production Countries: USA, France
Key Genres: Comedy Drama, Fantasy Comedy, Comedy, Romantic Fantasy, Fantasy, Music, Documentary
Key Collaborators: Ellen Kuras (Cinematographer), Charlie Kaufman (Screenwriter), Georges Bermann (Producer), Anthony Bregman (Producer), Julie Fong (Producer), Jeff Buchanan (Editor), Mos Def (Leading Character Actor), Jean-Michel Bernard (Composer), Dan Leigh (Production Designer)

“A fantasist in the truest sense, art school graduate Michel Gondry draws literally from nightmares and daydreams to create surreal, albeit somewhat sentimental flights of whimsy. Not surprisingly, Gondry found his initial outlet in music videos, first for his own band Oui Oui, and then for Icelandic star Björk… Gondry is credited for reinventing the pop music video and has since worked with such receptive bands as The Chemical Brothers, the Rolling Stones, and The White Stripes.” - Philip Kemp (501 Movie Directors)

"Following in fellow videomeister Spike Jonze's footsteps (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), Gondry's first two cinema features were written by Charlie Kaufman. Despite the apparently perfect match, Human Nature (2001), though crammed with memorable moments, was an ambitious misfire, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) achieved a near-perfect blend of form and content." - Michael Brooke (The Rough Guide to Film, 2007)

"His eccentric lo-fi take on mise-en-scene and visuals aren’t just inventive — they have steadily made him into one of the most distinctive filmmakers working today. His application of surrealism and the dreamlike logic of his narratives offer plenty of surprises even when the movies are mixed bags." - Oliver MacMahon (Indiewire, 2014)

"Today’s film-makers are a navel-gazing bunch. Often, they seem less concerned with each project’s individual worth than with its place along some grand career trajectory… It’s a mindset that says every film must represent a step forward from the last or else be stricken from the record like so many formative JJ Abrams projects. Still, if there’s one director you can’t accuse of such preciousness, it’s Michel Gondry.Since his 2004 breakthrough film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gondry has made nine entirely dissimilar features, among them a French surrealist comedy, a concert film in collaboration with Dave Chappelle, a $120m superhero movie, a documentary about his aunt, and an animated conversation with Noam Chomsky, enigmatically titled Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?" - Charlie Lyne (The Guardian, 2016)

"Widely hailed for his innovative music videos and commercials, Gondry expresses a playful, childlike sensibility through special-effects wizardry and the formal rigor of a great avant-garde filmmaker. Best known for his Björk videos, including Human Behavior and Bachelorette, Gondry has also directed memorable clips for The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Foo Fighters, and The White Stripes." - Scott Tobias (A.V. Club, 2004)

"He is cinema’s Doc Brown—a mélange of filmmaker and quirky inventor whose digital canvases resemble abstract works of art sprung to life. Michel Gondry began his career directing avant-garde music videos for the likes of Björk, Daft Punk, and Radiohead, before helming innovative commercials (he invented the “bullet time” technique employed in The Matrix), and eventually, feature films. The Frenchman’s 2004 sophomore feature, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a sci-fi romance centered on ex-lovers Joel and Clementine (Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet) who decide to erase one another from their memories, earned Gondry an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay—shared with Charlie Kaufman and Pierre Bismuth—and is regarded as a cult classic. After helming the documentary Dave Chappelle’s Block Party and the awe-inspiring The Science of Sleep, he crossed over to studio films, including Be Kind Rewind and The Green Hornet, with mixed results." - Marlow Stern (The Daily Beast, 2014)